WASHINGTON – Members of a congressional oversight panel vowed Tuesday to investigate whether the White House and top Pentagon officials played a role in deceiving the public about the 2004 “friendly fire” death of a former NFL player, Cpl. Pat Tillman, and argued that five investigations have failed to answer critical questions about the case.
During a hearing on Capitol Hill, Tillman’s brother, Kevin, spoke publicly for the first time about the shooting and how members of the Army Ranger unit they were with kept him in the dark about how his brother died on an eastern Afghanistan hillside.
Kevin Tillman spoke about the “deliberate and calculated lies” the military fed his family and the public, and how he believes military officials “hijacked” Pat’s legacy by transforming his tragic death into “an inspirational message.”
“The least this country can do for him in return is to uncover who was responsible for his death, who lied and covered it up, and who instigated those lies and benefited from them; then ensure that justice is meted out to the culpable,” Kevin Tillman said. “Anything less than the truth is a betrayal of those values that all soldiers who have fought for this nation have sought to uphold.”
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing came three years after Pat Tillman was gunned down on April 22, 2004, by members of his own unit while on a bungled mission near the Pakistani border, and it marked the first time the full Tillman family gathered in public to rail against the problems that have plagued the case.
Mary Tillman, who has called for high-level investigations since 2004, continued to accuse the government of “using” her son’s death to divert attention from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq and high casualties in that war.
Investigators found that the military destroyed evidence such as Tillman’s clothes, manipulated the story by saying he was engaged with the enemy when he died, and crafted a misleading Silver Star citation.
Tillman’s death gained worldwide attention in part because the former football player gave up a lucrative pro contract to enlist in the Army.
The committee also heard testimony Tuesday from Jessica Lynch, a former soldier whose ordeal in Iraq in 2003 was inaccurately portrayed in the media as a heroic fight against insurgents – “the story of the little girl Rambo from the hills who went down fighting” – when in fact Lynch never fired a shot.
She said that the story of her capture and a dramatic rescue videotape that was released to the media by U.S. forces may have helped “inspire our troops and rally a nation,” but added that the real heroes were her comrades who died during the ambush.
“The American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don’t need to be told elaborate lies,” Lynch said.
Spc. Bryan O’Neal, a soldier who was with Pat Tillman when other U.S. soldiers began firing on them, testified Tuesday that he was ordered not to speak to the Tillman family or to mention that it was a friendly fire case, with the implication that he would get in trouble if he did.
“I was 100 percent positive it was friendly fire,” O’Neal said. He said he reported the fratricide that day.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman, said the government violates its most basic duty when it fails to tell soldiers and their families the truth. He said he is awaiting the Army’s top-level review of how to assign responsibility for the Tillman lies but said he will continue investigating.
“We still don’t know how far up this went,” Waxman said.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., called the military’s actions “a disservice to the memory of Corporal Tillman, to his family, his unit and this nation.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
